Tire building method



Sept. 5, 1933.

E. H. BARDER ET AL BUILDING METHOD Original Filed Dec. 5, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 SCPL 5, l933- E. H. BARBER Er AL 1,925,394

TIRE BUILDING METHOD Original Filed Dec. 3, 1929 SSheets-Sheet 2 w 2 i 31 w-k y UNL/@772555 Is/ LEEEEE lum 2555/55 UZ-Egui//zm 3 sheets-sheet 3 E. H. BARDER El' AL TIRE BUILDING METHOD Original Filed Dec. 3, 1929 Sept. 5, 19337 n 5 ...ih n. U gf A =i.. I! ,h i mw WN QN 17mm/ am: .w bu i WN NN Vliao Patented Sept. 5, 1933 PATENT GFFICE TIRE BUILDING METHODv Earl H. Barder and Charles W. Leguillon, Akron, l Ohio, assignors to TheV B. F. Goodrich Company, New York,- N. Y., a corporation of Ne York Original application December, 1929, Serial No.` 411,258.y Divided and this application Novem ber 30, 1932.

Serial No. 644,950

3 Claims. (Cl. 154-14) This application is a division of our pending application Serial No.l 411,258, filed December 3, 1929, and entitled Tire building method and apparatus. f

. The invention relates to tire building methods, and more especially` it relates to procedure -in preparing and delivering measured lengths of tire building material from a storage supply of the latter into convenient relation to a tire building machine.

. The invention is especially useful in the manufacture of pneumatic tire casings of the drumbuilt or pulley-band method wherein the common practice is to withdraw rubberized fabric from a continuous length thereof which is wrapped in a roll with a liner and positioned adjacent the tire building machine. Because of adhesion of` the liner to the tacky rubberized fabric, the latter is more or less stretched by the pull required to Withdraw it, and, because of its immediate application to the tire-building drum, does not retract, With the result that tires of non-uniform quality are produced. Also, considerable care is required in drawing the fabric in accurate alignment onto the form.

In the practice of our invention the respective plies of tire building fabric are cut to length preferablyA by an operator otherl than the tire builder, at a suflicient interval before their application to the tire building form to permit them to retract to their normal unstretched condition, and are so positioned with relation to the tire building form as to be drawn thereonto by the rotation thereof Without imposing material tension on the fabric. The principal objects of the invention are to provide improved procedure Which will result in increased output from the tire building machines; to provide improved ,quality and uniformity of the tires produced; to provide conveniently yfor accurate alignment of the fabricon the form; and to utilize unskilled labor for numerous simple operations.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of apparatus embodying the invention of our copending application, Serial No. 411,258 and adapted to carry out our present invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 as viewed from the near side thereof.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section through a modification of the apparatus.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus comprises a storage rackA for storing a plurality of lengths of tire building fabric, each length of which is adapted to form one ply of a tire, said storage rack being positioned between a tire building machine B and a supply of tire building material, for example, a supply rack C upon Which is mounted long lengths of tire building fabric in rolls, said tire building machine and supply rack being disposed in offset or nonaligned relation, as shown in Fig. 1. However, We may dispense with the supply rack C and bring the tire building material to the storage rack A, in individual lengths upon an endlessk conveyor without sacrifice of all the advantages of our improved method.

The supply rack C comprises a-pedestal base 10 on which is mounted a rotatable turret 11 provided with suitable bracket-like supports 12,

' 12 on which are journaled a plurality of rolls 13,

13 of liner and tire building fabric, and liner Wind-uprolls 14, 14 associated with the respecf tive rolls 13. A foot-treadle l5 is providedfor indexingA the turret 11 to present successively the various rolls 13, which respectively contain lengths of fabric of different widths, at a determinate position.

The tire building machine B comprises the usual housing 16' having a rotatable spindle 17 extending therefrom and supporting, on its outer end, a collapsible tire building form or drum 18. A bracketv 19 positioned at one side of and above the drum 18 is supported upon a horizontal bar or extension 20 of Athe storage rack A, and the bracket 19 yprovides journals for a roll 21 of breaker-strip fabric, rolls 22, 22 of bead-covering fabric at each side thereof, said rolls 21, 22 including liners interwound with the fabric, and liner rewinding rolls 23, 24, 24 for vthe rolls 21, 22, 22 respectively. The bracket 19 also pivotally supportsra guide-structure 25 for the aforesaid fabric strips, said guide structure being mounted upon a pivot'ed bar 25, with its free end adapted to be positioned adjacent the drum 18 during the application thereto of said strips. The bar 26 is provided with a counterweight 27 which is somewhat` lighter than the guide structure `25, said counterweight being adjustably mounted upon an arm 212L extending radially from bar 26. An abutment 19a projects from the bracket 19, and by engaging the arm 27a defines the operative posi,-Y tion of the guide-structure 25, as is shown in full lines in Fig. 1. In inoperative position, the structure 25 rests in elevated position against a crossrod 19h, in over-center relation to the bar 26, as is clearly shown in broken lines in Fig. 1.

The storage rack A comprises a pair of spaced apart posts 28, 28 formed with suitable legs or base members 29, 29 and having their upper ends provided with respective brackets 30, 30A which sup port the barZO, the latter imparting rigidity to the rack and also` supporting the bracket 19 as hereinbefore described. Radial arms 31, 31 may be mounted on the posts 28 to provide convenientE supports for stock trays and the like.

Each bracket 30 is formed with a laterally '0H-lset portion which is formed with a plurality of slots 32, 32, and radial farms 33 .are pivotally mounted in the respective slots upon avertical pivot-pin 34 extending through the bracket, the arms 33 thus being movable in a horizontalv plane. A stop-pin 35 is mounted inthe bracketr 30 in such a manner as totravrse the 'slots V32 therein to provide a stop'for the arms 33 in oneV direction, in which position the arms are disposed'- substantially perpendicular to the bar 20.

The yarms 33 of the respective brackets 30 are of equal length, and provide supports for a plurality of elongate trays 36, 36 each tray being pivotally mounted'upon the free endsof a pair of arms 33, one from each bracket 30, a spacerblock 37 being positioned between'each arm andthe ktray toreduce friction therebetween. The arrangement is vlsuch that any tray 36, being part of a parallel motion structure, may be aligned 'alter` natively with the supply 'rack' C and the .drum 18 of the vtire'building machine B, independently o! the/other trays.V A buffer plate 38 is mounted upon one"rnargin of each 'tray 36,- said plate' abuttinglV a bracket"30`whenf the tray is aligned with the drum 18, to limit the movement of the traytoward the drum# Each tray is Vprovided with,laterally-adjustable guidesj39, 39 disposed longitudinally; of the tra-ygadjacent its lateral 'margins and each' guide 39 has a gaugefor indicator 40 adjustably mountedthereon toenable the cutting operator accurately to positionY tire building'material' on the tray,V and to indicate where the same 'is to be severed. 'Y

" The number v'of trays'provided with the device depends upon the tire building machine with which it is associated, or theA tireto be built thereon, there'being one tray for each fabric ply to be used in thejtire'and onetray'for the tread slab. Preferably the racksY ofadjacenttire machines face each other so" that but one operator -is requiIed-IOrcutting andv mounting the material .near end'of `the'tray.y He Vtlien swings the tray back intoralignment with the tire ybuilding drum and repeats the operation Vwithsuccessive trays as they are" emptied by the tire builder. A tread slab'41 usually ismountedV in the *upper tray'. Thusthe 'plies of fabric usually remain in the trays for several minutes before being incorporated in a tire, the interval being sufficient to permit the plies substantially to retract from any stretching incidental to their removal from the supply rolls 1 3. f 1A The tire builder in using stock from the trays 36 only has to attach the adjacent end of a fabric strip to the drum 18 and then rotate the latter, th fabric strip thereby being withdrawn from 'i the tray, substantially under no tension, and

.production from each tire machine isv increased.

Itr also results invlower'cost of tires since unskilled labor maybe employed for keeping the ling adhesive labelsto the tread slab, whileit is initstray. The parallel varrangement of the trays resultsin economy of space and so presents thej'strips' that thetire builder isv not' required to bring them into alignment.'y i

. In the modification shown inFig. 6, a plurality of trays 42, V42 are provided at theirifour corners with casters or rollin-S743; 43 Which run upon suitable flanges formed upon cross pieces 44,:44'of a suitable framework of W'hich'flE, '45 are the cornerposts. Brackets, such as the bracket 46',v are mounted upon said framework atthe rear thereof and support a bar 2li-'Lupen which is mounted a bracket 19C,the latter being for the same purpose as the bracket 19 of the preferred structure. The structurejdescribed is positioned between the tire building machine B and the stock rack C in such amanner that the trays 4,2 are aligned With'the latter when drawn forward, andalignedrwith'the tire building machine when moved rearwardly. Y Y The'apparatus may be otherwise modified Without departing from 'the 'scope ofthe appended claims, as 'we'do not limit our claims wholly to the exact procedure vdescribed or Ythe specific lconstructionshownl A YWe claim: Y

ajrhe method of building tires' winch'edm'- 'prises 4severing lengths of tire building material fromrespective rolls thereof, aligning said lengths of material with a tirebuilding form, in. parallel superposedrelation .to eachV other, byl movements of translation vin the respective planes of said lengths of material, and then feeding' said lengths 'successively onto the form.

3. The method of building tires which com prises assembling individuallengths of tire-building material onto individual trays -at one station, conveying said trays to aV second station, aligning said trays in superimposed relation'with' a'tirebuilding form, and successively feeding Vthe lengths of material ontoqsaid form.

EARL,n.jls'ARDER.y i` cHARLEsrW. LEGUILLON. 

